WEBVTT
X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=MPEGTS:900000,LOCAL:00:00:00.000
1
00:00:07.300 --> 00:00:09.300
One of the most interesting aspects
2
00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:12.500
of No One Writes to the Colonel
3
00:00:12.500 --> 00:00:14.640
is its use of language.
4
00:00:15.340 --> 00:00:18.080
The Colombian critic, Hernando Téllez,
5
00:00:18.080 --> 00:00:19.680
has said, for example,
6
00:00:19.680 --> 00:00:22.760
that a fundamental characteristic of the book
7
00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:25.480
is the simplicity of its design,
8
00:00:25.880 --> 00:00:28.300
almost the ease with which
9
00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:30.300
the reader can go
10
00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:33.900
from episode to episode in the book.
11
00:00:34.940 --> 00:00:36.440
When it comes to language,
12
00:00:36.440 --> 00:00:40.120
what interests us in this MOOC
13
00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:42.740
is the fact that
14
00:00:42.740 --> 00:00:47.920
the question of violence is not specifically present
15
00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:53.560
in the novella, but is merely suggested.
16
00:00:54.260 --> 00:00:57.760
We know, for example, that the colonel’s son
17
00:00:57.760 --> 00:01:00.540
has been murdered at the cock-fighting pit.
18
00:01:00.980 --> 00:01:02.560
We know
19
00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:05.980
that the presence of this son is felt not only in memory
20
00:01:05.980 --> 00:01:10.300
but also in the figure of the rooster that appears throughout the book.
21
00:01:10.800 --> 00:01:13.200
Given this simplicity,
22
00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:17.020
or rather the ease
23
00:01:17.020 --> 00:01:19.020
with which the book seems to have been written,
24
00:01:19.520 --> 00:01:22.760
the purpose of this module of the MOOC
25
00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:27.580
is to carry out a careful reading of the way in which, for example,
26
00:01:27.580 --> 00:01:30.940
certain objects with clear symbolic meaning
27
00:01:30.940 --> 00:01:32.940
are presented.
28
00:01:33.740 --> 00:01:35.740
It is very important to bear in mind
29
00:01:35.740 --> 00:01:38.780
that fundamental to this novella,
30
00:01:38.780 --> 00:01:40.780
as also to all great literature,
31
00:01:40.780 --> 00:01:43.040
is its
32
00:01:43.660 --> 00:01:47.000
polysemic nature.
33
00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:52.520
That is, the artist imbues it with many senses
34
00:01:52.520 --> 00:01:57.200
and many meanings.
35
00:01:57.700 --> 00:02:04.740
We present a relevant or faithful interpretation, but that does not mean
36
00:02:04.740 --> 00:02:07.200
ours is the only possible view.
37
00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.720
There might be many other interpretations too.
38
00:02:10.380 --> 00:02:14.620
Given that one of the principal virtues of the novella
39
00:02:14.620 --> 00:02:18.940
is the ease with which it appears to have been written
40
00:02:18.940 --> 00:02:22.380
and the transparent way it is presented to the reader,
41
00:02:22.380 --> 00:02:23.780
this module
42
00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:29.300
will carry out a careful analysis of the title and,
43
00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:32.760
for example, of the first paragraph.
44
00:02:32.760 --> 00:02:35.100
In addition, in our analysis
45
00:02:35.100 --> 00:02:39.040
of one of the most intense passages in the novella
46
00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:43.200
—the meeting between the colonel and his son’s murderer—
47
00:02:43.200 --> 00:02:46.480
we will attempt to carry out
48
00:02:46.480 --> 00:02:48.480
a detailed analysis of the rhythms of the prose
49
00:02:48.480 --> 00:02:52.340
that is used to describe the event.
50
00:02:52.760 --> 00:02:56.280
All these nuances in our analysis of the novella
51
00:02:56.280 --> 00:03:00.720
are intended to bring us to the fundamental point,
52
00:03:00.720 --> 00:03:03.180
and that is to recognise the depth with which the central character
53
00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:04.620
is presented and, above all,
54
00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:08.620
an aspect that we believe to be of great importance in this connection:
55
00:03:08.620 --> 00:03:11.620
the compassion that Gabriel García Márquez
56
00:03:11.620 --> 00:03:15.820
appears to invest in the story of the colonel.